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Archaic Greek colonies in Libya: historical vs. archaeological chronologies?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Peter James
Peter James*
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Peter@pjjames.freeserve.co.uk
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Abstract

The presently accepted ceramic chronology places the earliest episodes of Greek colonisation in Libya some three to four decades earlier than the traditional historical dates. A similar offset between the archaeological and historical chronologies can be seen at Naukratis and other Archaic Greek sites. A review of ‘fixed points’ for Archaic dating shows that the balance of evidence now strongly favours a reduction of late seventh to early sixth century BC Greek ceramic chronology by three to four decades. Such a reduction would bring harmony between the archaeological and historical pictures for the founding of the Cyrenaican colonies, restoring confidence in the account given by Herodotus.

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Libyan Studies , Volume 36 , 2005 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2005

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